NBA Draft: Cavs select Cedi Osman, Rakeem Christmas, Sir’Dominic Pointer in second round
June 25, 2015The Cleveland Cavaliers, instant nostalgia, and studying sports fans
June 26, 2015It’s been a week I guess. I’ve been way too busy and way too sparse with the sports takes. Trying to solve that today… While We’re Waiting…
Losing my motivation to talk about silly things and the Browns are doing kind of normal things…
Maybe I’m getting old and crotchety, but I just can’t bring myself to write about a lot of things with the zeal that I once did. I’ve spoken about the NFL draft and traced that back to getting burned on all the words wasted on RG3, but it doesn’t end there. I’ve had fun latching onto players during training camps and OTAs and that’s failed me. Even when I was “right” about Peyton Hillis, I turned out to be wrong in the long run. The reason is that you can’t find something just because you decide to look. And the more you look at things that largely don’t matter and try to assign meaning, the more likely you are to waste your time. I’ve wasted a lot of time on fruitless endeavors even within the mostly fruitless endeavor of my really fun hobby of writing and talking about sports. I love what we do and I love what sports are for our culture, but every time anything real in the world happens, it puts what we do here immediately in perspective.
Did you notice how little I talked about Browns OTAs this year? The Cavs were in the playoffs, so that helped to distract away from it, but really it just feels pointless to me at this point in my life. That’s not to say there’s nothing there and you shouldn’t ever read anything out of this period of Browns football. It’s just to say that while it might be interesting to read about it, you must also recognize that it basically has nothing to do with the reality that will unfold for the 2015 Cleveland Browns once the regular season starts. As long as there are no key injuries during OTAs, there’s little else that means anything.
Maybe this also speaks to the Browns doing relatively sane football things. Let’s list them, shall we?
- Johnny Manziel is the backup to journeyman Josh McCown. While this isn’t the best-case scenario, given the alternatives (or lack thereof) everything’s pretty much as it should be right now with the Browns’ quarterback situation.
- The Browns signed Terrelle Pryor!!! In the press release they also stated explicitly that he’ll compete for a wide receiver position. While I think this shows that the Browns are still relatively weak with regard to offensive weapons, it’s a fine gamble. I don’t plan on Terrelle Pryor really making it as a Browns receiver this year, but I see nothing wrong with the Browns giving it a college try. Well, in Pryor’s case, I hope it’s better than a “college” try.
- All’s quiet with Browns rookies. In past years, Browns rookies have received top billing in training camp as they were viewed as saviors. Think Trent Richardson. The Browns are in a place now where even when they have high expectations on Danny Shelton, they’re far from the place where they need to focus too much attention on a rookie. It would be nice if he becomes a world-class defensive anchor, but that’s really not necessary in year one.
So as much fun as I had talking about guys playing in shorts and draft picks turning the franchise around in their rookie years, I’m pretty happy to just hang tight until at least the pre-season. And even then, I won’t go overboard because I remember Jake Delhomme and Brandon Weeden looking great in the pre-season before, well, you know…
Judd Apatow directs LeBron James…
LeBron is going to be gracing the big screen soon as a side player in Apatow and Amy Schumer’s forthcoming Trainwreck movie. Check it out.
Your weekly moment of soccer zen…
I know the Women’s World Cup is going on right now, but this clip of a free kick from a beach soccer game is what I had to grab. It’s zen-like.
Hop Along is coming right at you…
I listened to this album when it came out and I liked it, but it never really “hit me” until more recently. One thing that I’ve always held about music for me is that I can point to a certain part of any song that makes it special to me. There’s a point in this song that opens Hop Along’s latest album. It’s infectious and powerful and after you listen to the song a couple times, it feels like everything else is just building toward this one moment. At least that’s how I see it. For me, that moment happens at 2:45.
That’s it for me this week. Hope you had a nice one. I promise to get back on the podcasting train here soon too. Been a busy week.
27 Comments
That band could be the replacements for The Replacements.
Did you notice how little I talked about Browns OTAs this year?
Yes, and you inspired me this morning to try to do something about it. If you cannot get excited for Danny Shelton, then all is lost (teaser).
rollongroundpresnap.gif
Goalie didn’t even move. WTF?
what could he do?
Wrongfooted in the sand is no place to be.
Maybe it’s the type of homerism typical this time of year, but I’m actually pretty impressed with the current crop of talent on the Browns roster. I really think Farmer has done a good job of developing a strong top-to-bottom 53.
I thought of prefacing my comment with “I know nothing about any form of soccer”. Still…. at least put up a hand. Look like you’re trying.
I’m with you.
Most likely, probably, maybe…
Yes, included. I mean, I wanted to keep it to post-draft GIFs, but I could not help myself with that one. It is just too perfect:
https://waitingfornextyear.com/2015/06/oh-danny-boy-oh-danny-boy-we-love-you-so/
And reports are, that The Crow has been getting the most carries/first team snaps. đ
Need to go through it last year, we saw some extreme dropoff with the offense and the run defense when we had to go with backups last year. There are some teams that can take more injuries than we could.
But, we’ve had another offseason, you could be correct, but I haven’t looked closely enough to have a strong opinion.
Would that be considered a “Swiss Miss?”
John Hughes being hurt really hurt our run defense last year.
I’m not smart enough to have strong opinions or really know one way or the other. I just notice that our holes tend to be filled by young guys with potential. Maybe they won’t work out, but it’s better than having known quantities that obviously aren’t that good.
Yeah…. I remember thinking this once during the Mangini era too…. so even I’m not really convinced.
How about this idea/story: Cavs offer LaMarcus Aldridge $33.8M 2 yr with second year player option for upcoming NBA season? Aldridge and the Cavs get to take each other for a test ride then just like a lot of other NBA players he can opt out next season when all of the TV money comes flooding in. The Cavs can then match any other offer he would receive.
Just like Kevin Love exploring his options so to would the Cavaliers. They’d basically offer Aldridge the money Love would be possibly leaving behind less the extra $2M the Cavs can offer for one year of service. Aldridge’s base salary this past season was $15.2M so he’d get a raise for one year with the Cavs at $16.9M, make the playoffs, possibly win a division, possibly win a conference, appear in the finals and be the best PF in the east.
Just an idea.
If LBJ is ok with it, I’m fine with it.
I am a Kevin Love fan but even I’d say LaMarcus Aldridge is an upgrade.
I don’t know if I have the monetary workings right in my theory but I kept thinking about it every time I heard the big bad Lakers mentioned and how they would most likely be targeting Love or Aldridge. By virtue of Love opting out he basically allowed the Cavs the option to use the money allocated for him elsewhere, right? My first thought was use it to resign TT, Shump & JR then add on the fringe. But then as I thought about this new TV deal and how so many guys would probably be signing 1 year deals I thought why not take the $16.9M Love walked away from and offer it all to Aldridge for a year. After that you aren’t in as big of a bind when it comes to TT because unlike Love LaMarcus is more dependable.
I don’t know just spit balling ideas.
Perfect commentary on the work of Jalen I didn’t win squat Rose and his work for ESPN at the draft:
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/06/jalen-rose-nba-draft-awful-espn-bust?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=sportsmain
I’m with you on LA.
I just get the feeling that living in Cali and scoring lot’s of points is more important than winning a championship to Mr. Love.
Could be I just can’t believe Love is that shallow/kind of player. To much has been said and written by people who are purely speculating I’ll wait to see what happens.
BUT
I don’t see why the Cavaliers can’t, like Love, explore their options. For me option #1 would be calling LaMarcus Aldridge’s agent up and making the kind of offer I mentioned earlier. If he isn’t interested or isn’t sure then option #2 for me is to bring back TT, Shump and JR. Option #3 how about David West at PF? I’m sure David Griffin has plans and backup plans because he knew this time was coming for almost a year. Lets see what happens.
and Phil Taylor being hurt and Des Bryant being hurt and Rubin being old
liar, you are smart enough (at least smart enough to make an educated guess which is all any of us are doing).
good idea.
Jay Williams, on the other hand, looked and sounded great. Polished ideas conveyed with preciseness, backed up with facts. I really like what he has to offer.
I wasn’t crazy about him either but compared to Rose he sounded like a savant!
I consider next NBA season as a one year free agent frenzy with that new tv deal coming the following season. Might as well be aggressive and pursue any and all possibilities. I would use the two wins from a title along with the team support and LBJ as sales points for a prospective new player.